wiki-illiam #104: q2

[dubdobdee]

2: Who began what by:
i: recalling unusual citrous abundance?
ii: describing his subject's physiognomy with a succession of Vs?
iii: justifying the creation of a short palindromic nickname for "himself"?
iv: describing the emergence at dawn of a moustached little man with bowlegs?
v: recalling melancholy inspiration from early evening sights and sounds in a rural churchyard?
vi: suggesting that it was generally accepted that a well-heeled loner must be looking for a lady?
vii: describing a studio filled with the scents of roses, lilac and pink-flowered thorn?
viii: describing his hero facing execution and recalling the discovery of ice?
ix: recalling a send-off from family and friends at Charing Cross?
x: providing an alibi for the white kitten?

q1 here: don't let anatol do it all!

the rules as they have evolved:
a: nice full answers and anecdotes if poss
b: say if googled or no; leave time for non-googlers to play
c: obviously look ahead at future questions if you want
d: don't bring in confirming or dissenting answers from other fora until next set is up and running

DDD semispoilers: I know vi and x and possibly iv, and the theme unless it's subtle

Comments

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

iii is Great Expectations (Pip)?

vi Pride and Prejudice (It is a truth universally acknowledged that a young man in possession of a fortune, etc)

x Alice through the looking glass?

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

if only (i) was Mind the Oranges, Marlon!

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

done some quick googling for exact first lines

iii: My father's family name being Pirrip, and my christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip.
vi i meant SINGLE man not young man, obv.
x: One thing was certain, that the white kitten had nothing to do with it:- it was the black kitten's fault entirely.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Arf is i) Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit?

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

wow it is years since i read OantOF -- so hence no idea

iv *might* be gormenghast -- the man in question is called rottcodd i think, but i forget his appearance

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

1st line of oantof: "Like most people I lived for a long time with my mother and father"

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

v) Morrissey
vii) Poison's behind the scenes rockumentary

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I have googled and found vii - I was closer with my answer to v!

[anatol-merklich.livejournal.com]

ah, morrissey + (painter's?) studio -> Wilde, Picture of Dorian Gray?

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

ii) do the Vs refer to Verbs, perhaps?

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

More googling: the Vs are not verbs but just Vs after all but here is a big clue - the person being described is HUMPHREY BOGART.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Hahaha perhaps i) is the Seekers! Though the chorus only kicks in at 0.50 so that's not really a 'beginning':

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Also have just found viii because I RECEIVED IT FOR CHRISTMAS hurray :)

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

For viii I immediately thought of Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. But I don't think it is.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

It's some kind of magic realist gubbins isn't it.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I don't know yet! In fact I know barely anything about the author apart from that lots of dudes seem to like at least two of his books. I get the impression it is vaguely historical though?

[friedslice.livejournal.com]

I was thinking this as well but Google sed nope.

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

bah, vi was the only one i knew!

is iv james joyce?

[anatol-merklich.livejournal.com]

Don't think so, Portrait of the Artist starts off with a baby and a moocow, Ulysses with stately, plump Buck Mulligan (if any, it's got to be this, but I remember no reference to bow-legs nor mustache) and Finnegans Wake with riverrun obv.

How about a (the 1st?) Poirot novel?

[anatol-merklich.livejournal.com]

"He swept the mirror a half circle in the air to flash the tidings abroad in sunlight now radiant on the sea. His curling shaven lips laughed and the edges of his white glittering teeth. Laughter seized all his strong wellknit trunk."

= no mustache?

[anatol-merklich.livejournal.com]

i) immediately put Goethe's "Mignon" in my mind: "Kennst du das Land, wo die Zitronen blühn" -- but since the rest appear to be English(-language) novels, I am doubtful about a German poem.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

ix) is Forster's Where Angels Fear to Tread

"They were all at Charing Cross to see Lilia off—Philip, Harriet, Irma, Mrs. Herriton herself. Even Mrs. Theobald, squired by Mr. Kingcroft, had braved the journey from Yorkshire to bid her only daughter goodbye."

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

i haf read 0xE.M.Forster and nothing so far has caused me to waver in this decision

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I can confirm that reading Room With A View has not encouraged me to seek out further examples of his work :(

[boyofbadgers.livejournal.com]

A wise decision. I didn't get the point of ARWAV at all.